In search of the success factors

Dear reader

Why do some start-ups fail in Switzerland? What makes other start-ups successful? The University of St. Gallen is looking for 100 founders who will be accompanied over two years by scientists in order to come closer to some answers. A significant project, since even insiders struggle to find clear and meaningful answers to these questions.

One reason for the difficulty in determining the success factors of Swiss start-ups lies in the enormous diversity of the scene. For example, this week we reported on four financing rounds from companies that could not be more different: Dagsmejan makes innovative sleepwear using the latest findings from textile research; Boataffair operates a platform for rental of sailboats and motor yachts; Anapaya, a spin-off from ETH Zurich, has developed a new network technology that combines high security, low costs and good performance; and Immunos Therapeutics, a spin-off from the University of Zurich, is working on a cancer immunotherapy platform.

And Swiss start-ups rely on different recipes in terms of strategy. Not all companies strive for a quick sale: TrekkSoft is the opposite. This week, the start-up from the Bernese Oberland announced the acquisition of a third company – the goal is to build a group of software companies for the travel industry.

This week at the start of Kickstart Accelerator, we ourselves asked two start-ups from Israel and Singapore what they find interesting about Switzerland. Gnowbe from Singapore and Yarok Microbio from Israel are among the 30 companies selected for the current programme.

A well-known large company has struck lucky In Switzerland too – BlackBerry has commissioned digital health startup Onebio to build a network for sharing and storing medical data.

Applications opened this week for some important start-up awards: the WA de Vigier Foundation has been going for 30 years and you can now sign up for the anniversary edition; registration is also open for the IMD Start-Up Competition and the Prix PERL for the Lausanne region.

Have a relaxing weekend.

Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch